inFAMOUS: Hope in the Eyes of the People
by WhiteZephyr
Summary: Joan is an amnesiac. She lost her memory after the blast happened. But she gained something too; a strange power, something she fears she won't be able to control. Will Joan ever get her identity back? And if she finds it, will she accept it?
1. Prologue

inFAMOUS

Hope in the Eyes of the People

Prologue

I pushed myself off of the ground, my entire body hurting like hell. Every bone ached, every muscle threatened to fall from my body, but I forced myself to get up. I guess it was instinct; it could've been me being stubborn.

I peeled my eyes open and looked at my hands. They were burnt to a crisp. I couldn't even imagine what the rest of me might've looked like. I used an exploded car to help me to my feet, my clothes just barely on me, hanging in tatters.

Using the wall, I guided myself out of there. I tripped over an exposed metal wire and fell to the ground, but it collapsed beneath me. I hit the ground hard, a few pieces of the concrete jutting into my stomach, the rest falling on my body. I couldn't move; I'd lost my will.

"Hey! Over there!"

Well, my will came back. I pushed my arm up, signalling that I needed help. A ton of people came over and helped me out of the rubble, then carried me over to an ambulance. Immediately, a breathing mask was put on my face and needles were shoved into my veins, filled with stuff I'd rather not know about.

One of the guys from the ambulance covered my forehead with ice. "Try not to talk! Focus on breathing!"

I grabbed his hand, which I knew freaked him out a bit. I knew what I wanted to say. I knew what I was looking for in that garage before I'd fallen. But somehow I couldn't say it. I couldn't. It was like I'd suddenly become a mute.

I released his hand, and tried to say it again. I couldn't. Tears stung my eyes. Why couldn't I? I should've been able to!

"Please, don't talk!" was what the ambulance worker told me, placing my hand by my side. "If you try to talk right now, the after-effects of the shock will probably stop you! I assure you, this is temporary!"

I watched the doors close and the ambulance drive away from the concrete garage. That word—no, that _name_—was resounding in my head. I wanted to scream it as I watched us go, but I couldn't.

I'd never felt so powerless in my entire life.


	2. Memory

Chapter One:

Memory

"Amnesia," the doctor said, reading from my file. "From what we can tell, you have amnesia."

I nodded, trying my best not to burst out in anger.

"Usually, we'd be able to rectify this by checking your fingerprint and finding your identity, then gradually helping you back into ordinary life, but…" When I raised my eyebrow (a movement that didn't hurt anymore), he continued. "But a great many of our files have been destroyed. We've already taken your fingerprint, and found out that yours was one of the files destroyed in the blast."

I guess it didn't hit me as hard as I felt it should've. I just looked down at my sheet and clutched it in my hand, wondering about everything and nothing.

"So, as of now, I don't exist?"

The doctor's brow furrowed. "We can still try to find your identity through other means, but that takes time. And now that we're so disorganized and have most of the Historic District in the hospital, it will take longer."

"How long?"

"Months, maybe even years."

I almost felt like tossing something out the window. "Well, what do I do now?"

"Until we find your true identity, try to find one for yourself. Give yourself a name, try to find out how old you are, and keep in touch with us." The doctor smiled. "Just… try to life the life that was spared a few days ago."

He left the room. I brought my knees up to my chest and buried my face in them. Great, so now I had to create my own identity, possibly even get used to it, until they could find my true one. But what if they couldn't?

"I already have a name," I murmured. "I've already picked one."

_Damn the person who made this happen! It's all their fault! Now, I'm being forced to live a life that I know isn't mine!_

I looked at my hand. Pearl-white skin, totally undamaged. Somehow, it seemed wrong that it was so. In my heart, I felt like it should've been damaged somehow. Something from behind my vision flickered in, but it disappeared just as fast. I saw my hand, charred and black from fire—no, an explosion. But just as soon as it happened I was looking at my uninjured hand, wondering what I would be doing from here on out.


	3. Manifestation

Chapter Two:

Manifestation

It had been two days since I got out of the hospital. I was now in the Warren District, trying to get my bearings. The electricity in the Warren was minimal, and where there wasn't any, the Reapers were massing.

The Reapers were freaks. I'd only seen them close-up once, but that was enough. I never wanted to see them again, if I could help it.

Currently, there was a riot going on at the bridge. I didn't want any part of it. As long as they dropped supplies for the people here, I was happy. I saw them—their faces. The sadness, the frustration, the pain… I wanted to help, but what could someone like me do? I was one person. One, memory-lacking person.

I had some clothes now: a red-brown windbreaker that only just passed the middle of my ribs, a white t-shirt underneath my windbreaker, blue jeans, and black sneakers. I also had a messenger bag slung over my left shoulder down to my right hip, with my cell phone at my shoulder connected to the strap of the bag. I'd cut my long red hair so it was just shorter than shoulder-length, and it naturally curved out of the way of my face, showing-off my emerald-green eyes. I also had a leather wristband on my left wrist.

I saw a plane soar overhead, a supply crate hanging from it. It looked like they were going to drop it for the people in the Warren. I shook my head and headed to the tiny apartment that was now my home. I was living right beneath this crazy guy who had his couch and TV's on the roof. He and his friend were usually hanging out up there, and they never bothered me, so it was cool.

Before I reached it though, I peeked down an alley and saw Reapers. There were two of them, and they were herding two civilians to… wherever the hell they usually hang out.

One of the Reapers used the butt of his gun to hit the man they were escorting. The woman knelt down and tried to get her husband up, and got kicked in the ribs for it.

_I have to do something!_ My body wanted to run at them, but my mind was thinking about the guns.

I eventually decided that these people needed my help. If I walked away, I would not only feel bad about it, but it would eat away at me for the rest of my life.

I ran at the Reapers and tackled one. His gun flew from his grasp. I punched him in the side of the head, then jumped up and attacked the other Reaper. I grabbed his gun, but he wasn't going to let go.

"Run!" I commanded, and the two civilians got out of there.

_Great. Now what? _I felt a stinging pain in my hands, but I didn't get to see what it was. The other Reaper grabbed me and lifted me from the ground, covering my mouth with his sleeve. He was suffocating me!

I bit down on his arm, hard. He screamed an inhuman scream and released me. I hit the ground just as the other Reaper took a shot at me, instead shooting his buddy in the head. I spat out some sort of black tar from my mouth that I got from the Reaper. Beautiful.

The Reaper aimed at me again. It seemed like he was taking his time. The stinging in my hands returned, and all I could do was think: _Well, this sucks. I'm about to die, and the only thing I can think about is how my hands are hurting. _I could almost see the Reaper pulling the trigger.

But the bullet missed me. The Reaper was knocked off of his feet, and fire quickly spread over his body. He screamed in pure agony, until he could scream no more, his breath gone from his body.

I looked at where the fire had come from, my eyes slowly trailing the flickers, all the way down to my hands. I stood up, and the fire followed. It was enveloping my hands. I could only stare at it dumbly before I chuckled.

"Heh. I'm… on fire…"

The Reaper who had been shot in the face started to get up. I realized what was happening, and I instinctively threw out my hands, the fire jumping from them to the Reaper. He went down like his friend.

"This is…!" I clenched my fist, and the fire left. I snapped my hands out, and it returned. "This is crazy!"

The couple who'd originally been herded by the Reapers came down the alley, some police behind them.

"Over there!" the man said. "The Reapers are here!"

I panicked, but I couldn't move. What would happen if they saw the bodies, burnt to a crisp? If I ran, they wouldn't know about this. If I stayed, what would they think? I'd already heard rumours of some guy having lightning bolts flying from his hand. Would they think I was a freak?

They rounded the corner, and I hadn't moved an inch. They all looked from me, to the bodies, and back to me.

"Did… Did you do this?" the woman asked.

I took a step back, and ran. I ran as hard and as fast as I could until I reached my apartment, where I slammed the door and locked it.


	4. Time

Chapter Three:

Time

I'd found out a few weeks later that Kessler, the guy behind the whole blast thing, was dead. The guy who lived above me, Cole MacGrath, was responsible. He was the one with the electric powers, and now that I had my own strange powers mastered, I could go out in the world.

Reapers were still around. Same for the First Sons and the Dust Men. Maybe, just maybe, I could do some good with these powers. _They_ would be my fodder.

I was wandering through the Warren when a mass of Reapers came out of a building and converged on some civilians. I smirked and leaped off of a building, plummeting down several stories until I hit the ground, creating one hell of a crater. I'd landed on one Reaper, while most of them were blasted off in several directions. The rest fired at me with their machine guns.

I put up a wall of fire and held it. The bullets melted before they reached me. I threw my hands out and incinerated two of the Reapers, and then I turned my hands into flamethrowers (which they technically already were, but now they were continuously firing… um, fire) and cooked the rest of them up.

The last Reaper tried to use someone as a human shield. I shut off my fire and held out my hand, imitating a gun. I shut one of my eyes, aiming, and the pressed my thumb down to my hand. A concentrated blast of fire hit the Reaper precisely in the face, and he fell backwards. It was lucky that I'd learned to tone down my attacks, or else I probably would've killed them. No, they'd get away with some 2nd degree burns, maybe even 3rd degree.

I walked away as all of those civilians watched my back. I didn't need their thanks; all I'd wanted was to fry some Reapers. Cole MacGrath, the lightning man, would take care of the rest.

"Hey, Joan!" I saw Ben run up to me as I got onto the sidewalk.

"Hey Ben." I let him catch up to me, and we continued walking around the Warren. "What's new?"

He shrugged. "Nothing really, but I'm getting some reports from the Voice of Survival about a pretty red-head who's really burning up some ground."

"Haha, Ben." I smiled though. I was sure that Ben would be the one who knew it was me. Not many red-heads around here.

He took a bite of his hot dog. "Damn. It's cold."

I snapped my finger from underneath the hot dog, and it was enveloped in flame, which I quickly put out with a wave of my hand. "It should be good now."

"That was in my hand! You could've killed me!" he exclaimed, taking a bite.

"You'll notice that everywhere but where you were holding will be warm now." I shrugged as he inspected it. "I'm getting used to it now."

"So… you're a walking microwave?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Think of me as a walking flamethrower… I think."

Ben grinned. "Of course."

I glared at him, but didn't say anything. The TV's turned on, and everyone clamoured around them as the Voice of Survival came on. He was the new one, since the other one had been slaughtered on live TV.

_"People! I've just got some new news on this other super-freak running around Empire City!"_ he said, his arms raised as if he were trying to be amazing.

"Super-freaks?" I repeated. Ben put a hand on my shoulder, signalling me to shut-up.

_"This was taken not even twenty minutes ago! One of our camera men were being abducted by Reapers, when someone—_not_ Cole MacGrath—leaped from a building and started burning every Reaper in sight!"_

The footage showed me incinerating every Reaper there. Then, the cameraman was taken as a hostage, and that's when I shot the Reaper in the head. They got a good look at my face, too.

I started to back out of the crowd very slowly, trying not to attract attention to myself.

"Ben?" I hissed, and looked around. The little bastard ran off!

One of the people in the crowd turned to look at me, and their eyes widened in realization.

"Hey! It's her!" they shouted, and like robots, everyone turned to look at me.

I gave them a wry smile and chuckled dryly. "Um… hi?"

No one moved. I made a mental note to give Ben a good ass-kicking later.

"I'm… uh, going to leave now…" I made my way through the crowd, everyone moving out of my way, probably out of fear that I'd burn them.

After a few minutes of speed-walking, I noticed they were following me. I turned down an alley and activated the fire in my hands, then transferred half of it to my feet. I took off into the air like a rocket, though not exactly as fast.

That was very creepy, I thought as I landed on Zeke's open rooftop. Now, all I have to do is lie low—.

"What the—?" I looked over and saw Cole and Zeke, both staring at me.

I froze in my tracks, and then shrugged. "Whatever. I'm going to sleep." There was no way in hell that I was going to be interrogated about my powers. Especially not by those guys.


	5. Sasha

Chapter Four:

Sasha

Cole came to visit me regularly, but I'd always tell him that I was fine. I'd say that I didn't need any help. I didn't need support. Zeke was always calling me the super-lady, but I didn't really like that. I guess it was the tiny fragment of memory inside of me that didn't like being called "lady". I estimated my age was around seventeen to eighteen, so I would expect people to still call me "kid".

Anyway, it was as if Cole was kinda happy to find someone like him. Or, um… _almost_ like him. Sometimes he would follow me around the Warren to see if I needed any help, which I quickly proved I didn't. Whenever he did try, though, he would scare away the Reapers because of his reputation of an ass-kicker.

Ben had disappeared. Seriously, it was like he had dropped off the face of the planet. He wasn't at his apartment, at his usual hangouts, and I couldn't find him walking the streets. There was _no way_ he could have gotten out of the quarantine, so that was out too.

A few days after my TV incident, I was patrolling around, flying through the sky like a ball of fire (which, per say, I was… or I almost was, since I wasn't a ball and the only fire coming out of me was from my hands and feet). I was glad to know that the Reapers were starting to notice me, and while Cole was checking out the other two districts I was the one they had to deal with.

It was on this day when I saw a gigantic semi spilling out black tar, which I'd found out was controlling the Reapers. Cole had once told me that the one who made the tar was a crazy bitch named Sasha, and that it should've stopped production when she died… or _if_ she died.

I headed downward at my favourite speed: fast. I hit the ground in front of the semi and set my hands on fire, just daring them to come at me.

The semi sped up, and I threw a fireball at it. When the front melted from the intense heat, the Reapers converged on me. I put up a fire wall just as they fired at me, and their bullets melted as well. In about a minute, all of them were knocked out cold on the road.

I approached the truck, ready to set it on fire. I'd recently learned that the black tar was _highly flammable_, which made it easier on me. I upped my heat, ready to give the truck all I had, when I heard shrill laughter from behind me.

"Oh, it looks like they couldn't take the heat, huh?"

I whirled around, looking for the source of the laughter and the voice. What I got was a bunch of that black tar in my face. I wiped it out of my eyes, but I was seeing red _everywhere_, and I saw more Reapers. They were friggin' _huge_!

I got ready to incinerate them, when I heard the laughter again, but this time, I could hear it in my head.

"You _are_ a pretty one. It's too bad you aren't a man, though."

I shivered. "I take it you're Sasha?"

More laughter. "I'm flattered! You know my name, and yet I don't know yours!"

I heard movement behind me. I looked up to the top of the truck, and saw her standing there. I ignited my hands and went flamethrower-mode on the truck. It exploded, but she'd jumped off.

"I don't give my name to crazy people," I told her. "_Especially_ when they run around in skimpy outfits."

She smiled, and when her mouth opened multiple tongues jumped out.

"And when they have tongues like _that_. Maybe you should just close your mouth, 'kay?"

She jumped at me, but I dodged quickly. It turned out that I was highly proficient in martial arts, which was definitely useful for situations like these. Sasha tossed some black tar in the shape of little balls, and I shot them. It wasn't the best idea.

I quickly tried to get the residue out of my eyes, but Sasha was on me. I noticed some people around, watching Sasha and I. _I can't put these people in danger!_ I punched Sasha in the head (avoiding her mouth) and kicked her off of me, and then I quickly got to my feet. One of my eyes were closed because I couldn't get that shit out of my eye.

She smiled at me. "This is fun!"

"You're one crazy bitch."

She lunged at me, smiling manically. I let her grab me, but then I smiled.

"What're you smiling about?" she asked, cocking her head.

"Your black tar runs through your veins, right?" I asked.

"Yeah… Why?"

I shrugged. "Oh, nothing. It's just…" I set my arms on fire, and my fire immediately started to burn the living hell out of Sasha. She screamed and let go of me, jumping as far as she could away from me. "It's just that I think it's a teeny bit dangerous when you're facing someone like me."

Sasha glared at me and hissed. (I'm serious! The bitch hissed at me! Like a cat!). "You're going to pay for that!"

I made a motion with my hand that pretty much spelled out: "Bring it."

She tossed more of those evil balls of tar at me. I was about to move when I noticed people standing way too close behind me. If I moved, they'd get hit with it. If I shot the balls, we'd all get hit. But if I didn't move, it would only be me.

_Ah, hell._ I put my hands in front of my face and let the tar hit me. Not only did it hurt, it smelt horrible. I'd really need a shower afterwards.

"Get back!" I yelled at the people. They complied pretty quickly.

I charged at Sasha. She tried to move, but to no avail. I grabbed one of the tubes that I guessed were filled with black tar and ripped it off, then ignited it. The fire moved into her bloodstream. She was slowly being burned from the inside.

After a few minutes of listening to her screaming, I shut off my fire. She was unconscious, but it was likely that she wasn't going to make a comeback after that.

"You're one crazy bitch," I told her unconscious form, and then I flew off.


	6. Past

Chapter Five:

Past

I heard a knock on my door and opened it. Cole was standing there, beaming.

"What's up?" I asked.

He held up a newspaper. "Joan, you're getting recognized as a hero!"

I took it out of his hands and looked it over. There was a picture of me fighting Sasha, followed by several other pictures of me blowing up tar-filled trucks and protecting everyone from the explosions.

"Cool," I said. "Wanna come in?"

Cole came in, and just then noticed that I was drying my hair with a towel. "You just get outta the shower?"

I nodded. "I had to get that tar stuff out of my eyes. I do not like hearing Sasha's voice, especially if it's screaming at me for burning her."

"She can be pretty pissy," Cole murmured.

I tossed the towel into the bathroom and sat on the couch. "So, you just came here to tell me this?"

"That, and…" He made a face. "I'm worried about something."

"What would that be?" I asked sarcastically. "If it has anything to do with me, don't worry. I'm _fine_."

Cole frowned. "These powers we have… Maybe they're gifts, but maybe, just maybe, they're also a curse. We have to make sure—."

"—That we don't abuse them. That we use them for the greater good," I finished for him. "Cole, when I woke up in the hospital, I didn't know a single damn thing. I found out I had amnesia, that I had to start my life over, and that they may never be able to find my identity." I sighed. "When I found that out, I wanted to kill you for starting the blast. I wanted to make you suffer for making me suffer. But…" I shook my head. "In my heart, I knew that I wouldn't be able to do it. That was the only thing I knew about myself at that moment; that I couldn't kill someone, even when my hate was overflowing. And now that you're standing in my living room, talking to me so casually, congratulating me on a job well done, I want you to know that I'm just fine here. Whatever this is—gift or curse, I'm going to use it to help people."

He smirked. "Quite the speech."

"Shut up." I got up and opened the fridge. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"With my potential killer? Yes." He sat down at the table as I glared at him. "Joan, I'm glad you're on my side."

I grinned. "Hey, no prob. God knows that you need a little help."

A few days later, I was watching the TV on the street through the window. That news reporter lady was on, telling everyone to keep calm, that everything was going to be okay for us, yadda yadda yadda.

Someone bumped into me and brought me back to the real world (considering my face was practically glued to the screen).

"Sorry!" she said, and started moving on.

"No prob!" I yelled after her. "Is bumping into random people on the street a hobby?" _People really need to watch where they're going!_

I shook my head and turned around, away from her, just as she stopped dead in her tracks. I heard footsteps running after me, and as I turned around I was tackled to the ground.

"Hey! Get off of me!" I exclaimed, and managed to turn around onto my back.

"Kayce! Kayce, oh my God!" the girl hugged me fiercely, taking the breath right out of my lungs.

"Can't… Breathe…!" I pushed her off of me and got to my feet, keeping a hand out to stop her from advancing.

When she looked up at me, getting to her feet, there was something so strangely familiar about her; it was nagging at the back of my brain.

"Kayce, don't you recognize me?" she asked, taking a step forward.

I took a step back. "Back off! Tell me who the hell you are and why you're attacking me!"

"I wasn't attacking you! I was hugging you!" I brought my hand down just a little bit in confusion. "Kayce, don't you recognize me?"

"N-No, I don't." I studied her face, trying to get a reading, but I got nothing. Who was she?

"Kayce, I'm your sister!"

I took another step back, my breath caught in my throat. "My… My sister?"

She nodded. "Kayce, I'm your little sister! It's me, Dana!"

Cole appeared behind me as I stepped into him, looking about as shocked as I was. "Joan, is she really your sister?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't know I don't know _I don't know_!"

"Joan?" she repeated. "Kayce, what's going on?"

I turned tail and ran. I didn't know what else to do. What could I? Suddenly be all like, "Oh, that's cool! Now, let's get my memory back!" No, in my mind it's more like, "What the hell? I'm out! Good-bye! See you in another lifetime! I don't need to deal with this shit right now!"

That's great. I can go against Reapers, but in the face of my past? Hell no.


	7. Recollection

Chapter Six:

Recollection

I paced in my room, unable to comprehend what had happened. Not only had I found out I may have a sister, but I ran away, too afraid to face her. If she _was_ my sister, what would she think about me? That I was a freak? Did she even know about my powers? Most people in the Warren did now.

I heard a knock on the door. "Joan?" I recognized Cole's voice almost immediately.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"I brought someone for you," he said, opening the door. "I explained your… situation to her."

"Which one?" I asked, giving a wry smile.

Dana came in. "The part where you have amnesia," she explained. "I'm sorry, Kayce. I didn't know. I-I thought you were dead, for gosh sakes!"

My eyebrow raised. "Why would you think that?"

Cole motioned for both of us to sit down, and then he sat as well. "I've got to listen to this." I gave him a questioning look. "Don't worry, Joan. I destroyed three major bases against the First Sons and the Dust Men, plus now that Sasha's incapacitated again, the Reapers won't make a move for another few days. I have time."

I shrugged, and looked at Dana. "Well?"

She hesitated. "Um… You see, you saved my life when we were escaping. I thought you'd died when you saved me!"

"What did I save you from?" I asked. "Who were we escaping?"

She gulped. "Kessler."

_**Several Weeks Earlier…**_

__I opened the door to Dana's cage, quickly discarding my broken lockpick. "Dana! Hurry, we gotta get out of here!"

"Kayce!" Dana hurried out of her cage, large enough for a Great Dane just like mine, and ran ahead. "Let's go!"

I followed her, matching her steps perfectly. A plus about being captured is that we knew our way around, and after being forced to run in that God-awful maze for days on end, we were both pretty fit. We could run for miles without needing a single drop of water.

Dana veered right, and I followed. We could practically taste freedom. It was on the tip of our tongues…!

We found the ladder that Kessler used to get in and out of the lab. I went forward, but the grate wouldn't budge.

"Gimme a sec!" I told Dana. She nodded and climbed down the ladder, waiting anxiously. I propelled my legs upwards and kicked the grate as hard as I could, creating one hell of a sound. "C'mon!" I said, righting myself. "We have to get out of here now!"

I helped Dana up into the fresh air. It wasn't stale like we were used to, and there was so much of it that I was feeling woozy. I wasn't so sure about Dana though. She just looked happy to be out.

I replaced the grate when I heard footsteps coming from below, then I found a car and used all of my strength to push it over. It was lucky we were in this garage, or else it would've been weird to come up just on the street.

Dana looked at the entrance and saw something. She ushered me over, and as I looked, all hell broke loose. An explosion ripped through everything, and was barrelling towards Dana and I.

"_KAYCE_!" Dana screamed.

I stood in front of her and threw my hands in front of my face. When the explosion hit me, I realized that nothing Kessler had done to me had hurt me so much. Not when he drained my blood and filled my body with that glowing red stuff, and definitely not as much as when he beat me to within an inch of my life with his cyber-arm. I watched in horror as my skin burned and prickled, becoming black in front of my very eyes, like an over-done chicken in an oven, really.

Dana… As long as I stood in front of her, she wouldn't be harmed. I planted my feet firmly into the ground as more of my body turned black from the blast. I gritted my teeth and then screamed, unable to be strong for one more second.

But I was blasted off of my feet. The same went for Dana, however I didn't see where she went. I slammed into the concrete wall and fell flat on my face, the rubble falling around me, luckily.

My eyes started to blur, and it felt like I couldn't keep them open for one more second. But it was over; the blast had subsided. Every muscle and bone in my body was burning, and I could tell that somewhere on my body I was on fire. I didn't move to put it out; if I did, I was sure my arm would have snapped off.

"D-Dana…!" I called hoarsely as I slipped into unconsciousness. "Dana…!"

And somewhere, far away from me, I heard the estranged calls of: "Kayce!"

_**Present Day…**_

__I stared at my hands. "But… But I woke up in the hospital a few days after the blast! If what you're saying is true, I should still be in a hospital bed!"

"I don't know what Kessler did to you, Kayce, but your healing must have been augmented somehow." She looked at the floor. "Kayce… I was thrown into the water just as the blast reached its climax. I survived because I was protected underwater, but when I surfaced I heard you. I wondered if it was just me, because I searched the hospital and there was no sign of you. I checked the garage, but whatever bodies should have been there were incinerated."

"Lovely," I murmured. "So, Kessler was the one behind all of… _this_?"

Cole put his hands up in defence. "Hey, don't look at me. I was being used by that bastard too."

I frowned. "Well, whatever the case, he's dead now." I stood up and paced. "So, it's good to know I have good healing. Now I don't have to worry about putting up a shield to defend myself. And that's help with my offence, and I can work more on dodging…"

"What the hell is she rambling about?" Dana asked Cole.

He smirked. "You haven't seen the papers lately?"

She shook her head. "I've been too pre-occupied trying to find a safe place to live, thanks."

"You can stay here," I offered. "Safest place there is."

"Yeah, says the walking lighter," Cole muttered.

"Hey, at least I don't live on a roof." I countered. "And I'm not a light bulb that could short-circuit at any second."

"Touché." Cole's phone suddenly went off. He answered it quickly. "Yeah?"

"Hey, man! It's Zeke!"

"I know," Cole replied, annoyed. "There's caller ID."

I heard Zeke laugh at the other end. "Well, whatever man! I heard a few rumours goin' around that Alden's back! And he's lookin' for revenge, Cole! He's gonna take it out on Joan first, so you guys'd better get outta there!"

"On it." Cole looked up at us. "Let's go."

I pushed Dana in front of me and we exited the apartment building. Not a second too soon, either. The building exploded.

"Man!" I huffed. "All of my stuff!"

"At least it wasn't you!" Dana said. "Hey, Cole, I have something that could help you out against Alden!"

Cole nodded. "Show me."

A few blocks later, Dana opened a locker in an alley and showed us one gigantic katana.

"It's called a nodachi," she explained, handing it to Cole, scabbard and all. "I think it'll help a bit."

"I don't need a weapon right now," Cole said, and handed it to me. "You, however, need to defend yourself a bit better, since you've decided you're not using your shield."

I shrugged. "Hey, what can I say? I need to know my limits!"

"Wait, why're you giving it to Kayce?" Dana asked frantically.

"I'm fighting, obviously," I told her, re-adjusting my messenger's bag to fit the scabbard underneath it. It fit perfectly. "No one explodes my apartment unless it's me!"

"You should leave it to the ones with the powers," Dana cautioned, following us out of the alley and onto the street. "If you get in the way, Cole could get hurt!"

"Do you have a crush on him or something?" I asked bluntly, shutting her up. "Chill out and don't worry. I have this handled!"

She frowned as we walked towards the incoming assault of Reapers and Dust Men. "That's what I'm afraid of."


	8. Alden

Chapter Seven:

Alden

"I heard from Zeke before that you were kinda an ass before," I said to Cole.

"Really?" he replied sarcastically. "Well, I actually had a good reason for that."

I cocked an eyebrow as we walked down the middle of the street to where Zeke had said Alden was, Dana in tow. "Oh? And what would _that_ be?"

"He handed the Ray Sphere over to Kessler and aided in the death of my girlfriend," he said bluntly.

I chuckled dryly. "Well, isn't that _lovely_?" I put my hand on my chin thoughtfully. "The Ray Sphere is the thing that gave you your powers, right?"

"Yeah. I'm an electric Conduit, whereas you're a fire Conduit."

"Conduit, huh?" I smiled. "Not bad. At least it's better than '_vessel'_."

"Vessel?" Cole repeated. "What brought that on?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. It just randomly popped into my head."

"Kessler used to call you a vessel," Dana said from behind us. "When he'd take you out of your cage, he would keep you out for hours on end, sometimes even days, always calling you, 'my favourite vessel'."

"Well, he isn't creepy at all," I said. "No offence, Cole."

"None taken. When bad stuff happens to people, it can change 'em." Lightning crackled up his arms and pooled into his hands. "It's how that person chooses to handle it that defines them."

I saw the Dust Men coming. I pointed to a dumpster not far away, and Dana willingly ran over there, casting worried glances my way.

"Do you think she's really my sister?" I asked Cole.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe when your memory returns you'll find out."

"_Maybe_? Thanks for the vote of confidence." I smiled. "Well, I like Joan better than Kayce anyway. At least that way I have a better nickname."

"Right. '_Jo'_," Cole said, grinning. "It kinda suits you."

The Dust Men charged at us, firing their bullets and getting ready to stick their blades into our bodies.

"You know," I said as we dodged the bullets, "you're a pretty good sidekick!"

"_Sidekick_? Excuse me, but I've been doing this longer than you!"

"Only by a few days!" I argued, drawing the nodachi. "Don't get a big head, light bulb boy!"

I sliced the gun of one of the Dust Men, and then punched him hard in the gut, sending him sprawling to the ground. Several Dust Men came at me at once, but I used my left hand as a flamethrower to fend them off while my nodachi hacked their guns apart.

"Too easy!" I shouted, kicking one of the Dust Men in the face. "I'd like a challenge, please!"

I didn't even see the hit coming. I was slammed by a giant metal arm and catapulted into a building, dislodging most of the bricks when I hit.

"Challenge enough for you?" Alden cried in his gigantic robot. "Fight me, coward!"

"Look who's talking!" I shouted, landing on the ground gracefully. "I don't have a giant robot! How about you come out here and fight?"

"I am not that stupid, girl!" Alden spat. "You will not be able to defeat me, because I am more powerful than Sasha!"

"You're definitely more talkative," I mumbled. "And you aren't hitting on me, so I guess that's a plus."

Alden tried to smash me, but I dodged and cut his robot's hand off with my nodachi. Cole got behind Alden and deactivated the other arm before he could counter-attack, so I stabbed my nodachi into his chest. It barely missed Alden.

Cole leaped into the air and fired a continuous stream of blue lightning from his fingertips. I got the hint and did the same, only with my fire. The robot short-circuited, and fell over.

Cole ripped the cockpit off, but was stunned when Alden tossed a bucket of water at him. He had to retreat, so I stepped in and formed a circle of fire around Alden and I. The fire was licking my shoulders now, it had spread so much. It felt so _good_ too. I loved the feeling now, my fire around my arms, making me feel so _powerful_.

Alden got a gun out and shot me in the chest. It hurt like hell, but I advanced on him. He fired several more shots in succession, but my body spat them all out and healed my wounds. Too bad for him.

He tripped and fell backwards. I was on him immediately, my hands digging into his face. He screamed as the fire started burning him, and tried desperately to get me off. But what could he do? He was an old man! He was no match for me, or my fire.

Tiny scorch-marks appeared on his face where my fingers were. He screamed in pain, but instead of taking my hands off I dragged my fingers along his face, watching the scorch-marks with a fascination I didn't know existed inside of me.

I heard someone scream my name, but I didn't respond. I was having too much fun! I revelled in his screams, watched his eyes dart around as if trying to escape his skull.

"Stupid old man…" I muttered, and increased the fire. "What's the matter? _Can't take the heat_?"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and just like that I was ripped off of Alden. I flew into his fallen robot, my head spinning. I rubbed my temples and shut my eyes, trying to stop seeing those friggin' stars.

"Damn. My head…" I peeled my eyes open. Cole was glaring at me, an unconscious Alden tucked under his arm. Or, at least, I _hoped_ he was unconscious. "What?"

He shook his head. "We'll talk about this later. Just bring down your fire wall, okay?"

I noticed the circle still around us, so I brought it down, grabbing my nodachi from the chest of Alden's robot and putting it in its scabbard.

Dana grabbed my arms and looked at me in amazement. "You're a fire Conduit? I thought Cole was joking!"

I shrugged. "You really haven't been keeping up in the news, have you?"

Dana shook her head. "So, that's how you're not dead…"

"I guess so… I think." I shrugged again. "Well, now I'd better go clean up my apartment. There's no way I'm looking for another one after all the trouble I went through to get that one."


	9. Power

Chapter Eight:

Power

Cole was following me non-stop now. I had told him that when I was facing Alden, something came over me. Something I couldn't control. Did I really deserve to be babysat now? Maybe it would only happen one time!

But Cole was persistent and always followed me, no matter how far or how fast I flew. He was worried about me. And to tell the truth, so was I. I didn't understand how I could just do that to Alden! _He was defeated, and I was torturing him… Ugh! This is so stupid! I'm supposed to be a hero, like Cole, and instead I'm watching an old guy suffer because it looked—!_

But that was just the thing. What did it look like? Demented? Psychotic? Insane?

Fascinating?

I sat down on the roof of the tallest building I could find and shook my head frantically, trying to get the images out of my head. _And I thought things were bad when I burned my first Reapers! _I heard the faint sounds of gunshots in the distance. Cole would have to give up on me for a second to check it out. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to do that stuff again.

Why was this happening to me? One minute, I was a badass heroine fighting a robot, and the next I was a crazy bitch, smiling as I watched Alden scream in agony, his pathetic attempts at getting me off of him only fuelling that insane… _lust_ to hurt him.

"What is with this power?" I murmured. "Or is it just me?"

I shook my head again. The images weren't leaving. Alden and Sasha screaming as I burned them inside and out... To tell the truth, I wanted to leave Sasha to die. I wanted to watch her burn, her insides becoming ash. I had briefly wondered at that time if the fire would jump out of her eyes, but I shut it off. Why couldn't I do the same when fighting Alden?

Another image flashed across my eyes. An old man fighting with a younger (but still old) man, pointing at me and screaming. Then he came to me and slapped me as hard as he could. I didn't react, and I didn't know why, because I knew that I should've flown off the handle and burnt him to a crisp. But as soon as it had appeared, it was gone.

Just like a few weeks ago, when I saw my hands…

"You've got Alden on the brain?"

It was hard not to mistake Cole's voice for anyone else's. "Kinda hard not to. What gave it away?"

He sat down beside me, and we looked over Empire City. "You don't just 'zone out' like many people. You're usually so alert it's hard for me to sneak up on you."

"Good point." I sighed. "Cole, I'm really sorry. I really didn't mean to do what I did, I swear! It was just… I don't even know."

"I'm sure you're just going through a tough time," Cole said, consoling me (which was totally un-Cole-like). "I mean, you lost your memory, your 'supposed' sister is crashing with you, and you have to find yourself all over again. It can be stressful for anyone, but we shouldn't take it out on the bad guys. They're crazy, and in that way, we're better than them."

"You are, you mean." I rested my hands beside me, looking like I was going to jump up at any second. "I watched him scream. I watched him and Sasha get burned by me, and I didn't want to stop."

"Sasha too?"

I nodded. "I put my fire into her tubes and burned her from the inside-out, but I turned it off. I don't know how it's different now!"

Cole's brow furrowed in deep thought. "What if Alden's part of your past, and your subconscious was lashing out?"

"I'm not sure, but that could be a reason." I hung off the edge of the building, trying to remember anything. A name, a feeling, another creepy image… but I got nothing.

"Don't over-stress yourself. Just… try to take it easy. The crime's calming down, so you can relax for a bit. I got this." Cole gave me a pat on the back and jumped from the building, slowing down using the lightning coming from his hands.

_That would be a good idea. Go home, chill with Dana and get to know myself, maybe get some popcorn…_

_But when have I ever listened to anyone?_ I smiled. "I'll just take my stress out on some Reapers, I guess."

I slid off the rooftop and dropped towards the ground. I flipped once, then started to fly towards the Neon District. I can image you're a bit confused, considering I was fighting Reapers in the Warren, but I can explain this: they were gaining ground on the Dust Men.

I know. Pretty embarrassing, huh?


	10. Hero

Chapter Nine:

Hero

The Reapers were popping out of every corner in the Neon like daisies in a garden (if you don't get it, that means that they never went away). I blasted each one I saw, and luckily helped a ton of people on the way. I never stayed though; there were more freaks to fry.

A Reaper managed to shoot me in the gut, but like before, my body seemed to just… reject it and heal itself. That really seemed to come in useful, but it still hurt. And then they tossed a bucket of water on me. Man, I was pissed.

I just upped my flames, boiling the water until it evaporated off of me. I noticed that my flames had extended again; now they were all the way up my arms and just beneath my shoulder blades.

Every Reaper who appeared in front of me was knocked out. I was right: this was a major stress-reliever! I quickly dodged a bullet and threw a fireball at the Reaper at fault, throwing him into a lamppost.

"You'd better get that checked out!" I yelled at him as he shakily got up. "You might get brain damage! Oh, wait a sec, Sasha's covered that! Never mind then."

The Reaper fired at me again, but I was already charging at him. His bullets grazed my face about three times, but he had to reload and I saw my chance. I raised my fist and hit him square in the face, some black tar residue apparent on my fist and in my eyes.

"Dammit!" I cursed, rubbing the stuff out of my eyes. "This shit again!"

_**"And this time I will not let you go!"**_Sasha screeched at me.

I rested my head on my hand. "Oh great. It's super-bitch. Don't you have a hole to crawl into or something? The cell in the DARPA facility you're staying in right now should do the trick!"

She hissed (what was it with this bitch and hissing?). _**"You're going to pay for what you did! But I have a proposition for you—."**_

"If it involves getting you hooked up with either me or Cole, you can totally forget it. Dana's the one taking your place in the whole, 'crazy super-stalker' thing."

I could almost picture her frown. _**"You're jealous of what Cole and I have."**_

"Oh yeah, sure. You know, I thought I saw ugly before, but when I saw you… well, damn!" I managed to get more of the tar out of my eyes. "You seriously take the cake in the 'crazy and butt-ugly bitch' department. If those are where Cole's standards are, I should just burn my eyes out right now." I happily picked up a bucket of water that one of the Reapers had dropped.

_**"You think you're quite the hero, don't you?"**_ Sasha snapped. _**"Well, you won't be laughing when you find out who you are!"**_

I paused, the water bucket raised over my head. "What?"

_**"I can see it now—your face when you find out the truth."**_ I could picture her smirk. _**"You aren't a hero, Joan. You never will be."**_

I frowned. "I don't know how you know my name, but we're done talking." I poured the water over my head and the tar was washed away, along with Sasha's annoying voice. "Crazy bitch," I muttered.

The next day, I was busy watching a movie with Dana. I went and grabbed the popcorn while she set it up. The movie was called "Race to Witch Mountain"… or something like that.

I sat on the couch and took a sip of my Coke. She did the same, but frowned at me.

"Where's the popcorn?" she asked.

I held up my hand, where the popcorn was perched. "Here."

"It's not popped yet!"

I upped my heat, and the popcorn started popping. "Now it is." I handed the finished popcorn to her. "Anything else?"

"Can we shut the lights off?" she asked innocently.

The lights seemed to sputter, and then they were out. Dana squealed in surprise, while I smiled. "Thanks Cole!" I yelled at the roof.

"No problem!" he called back.

Dana and I watched the movie in silence. When we got to a part where there was lots of explosions, I smiled. Dana seemed to notice.

"You really like fire," she observed.

"It's cool," I told her. "Or… um, hot, but it's cool. I mean…"

"I get it," she said. "It's fascinating."

I nodded. "Yeah, fascinating—." I paused. That was the word I used to describe it. Dana didn't know about it, but why did the air suddenly feel so… tense?

I focused on the movie. I'd ask Cole about it tomorrow. Right now, I just wanted to sip Coke, watch a movie, and eat popcorn. But… well, that didn't seem to go right either.

In short, the Coke boiled over and the can melted.

"Dammit!"


	11. Truth

Chapter Ten:

Truth

I managed to peel my eyes open and just stare at the roof for about an hour. It wasn't a bad movie last night, but there could have been more explosions. Dana was sleeping in the newly found bed while I was sleeping on the couch. You'd never know it looking at her, but Dana was a hell of a messy eater.

"If I have to clean up after her again…" I groaned. She seemed to be about fifteen, but I guess I couldn't exactly blame her. When you live in a cage all your life, eating properly is not exactly what you're worrying about.

Well, at least, that's what she says. For all I knew about her, she could've lived in a mansion in the Historic District before the blast, and I'd have been none the wiser.

What exactly do I know about her? She's claiming to be my sister, but…

I left a note for Dana, telling her that I'd be patrolling the city with Cole for a bit. It wasn't a lie, but I also needed to see Zeke about some information. Maybe, just maybe, I could find out who Dana was exactly.

Cole met me on a building not too far from our apartment. "You called?"

"I asked Zeke to look into Dana," I answered bluntly.

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'look into'?"

I crossed my arms. "Cole, she doesn't look a damn thing like me! Shouldn't sisters at least have a few features that look the same?" He was about to interrupt me when I stopped him. "How'd she know—or think—I was her sister when I had turned away from her before she got a look at me? Why didn't she have a place to stay, after all these weeks? And explain to me exactly how she got a big-ass katana that looks brand-freakin'-new, in a place where the newest thing should be food drops!"

He hesitated. "You suspect her of lying, then?"

"Kinda. I mean, I'm happy to have someone around, but the stuff she says… It sounds rehearsed, almost." I tapped my sneakers against the roof. "I think I wanna check this garage out. She says we escaped from there, so it'd help with her story."

"But it was right beside Ground Zero!" Cole exclaimed. "Everything could be destroyed!"

"Now, wouldn't that be convenient?" I said sarcastically. "You coming?"

"Definitely."

A few minutes later, we were standing at the ruined garage (made of concrete and rubble, currently). I looked for the car that Dana claimed I'd pushed over the grate, so I assumed that it was the only car in the friggin' garage.

I pushed it to the side (it rolled smoothly away, so no, I don't have super-strength) and looked at the floor. Sure enough, there was a grate. Cole blew it up and we made our way inside. I turned my fire on in the palm of my hand and used it as a torch.

"You really do come in useful when there are dank and murky places involved," Cole commented. "I could've used you when I was advancing my powers in the sewers. It doesn't hurt to have a bit more light." He activated his lightning in the palm of his hand as well.

I shook my head. "The way it jumps around like that, your lightning I mean, someone's gonna look at it one day and have a _seizure_."

"Sure, sure," Cole muttered, totally not believing me.

We found bodies all along the corridors. Some had been incinerated by some of the blast that must've come through the grate, but as we got deeper into the hidden area we found bodies everywhere. They hadn't been burned at all; instead their insides looked like they'd exploded out of them.

_"Oh my God…"_ Cole and I murmured.

We continued moving in, ensuring to check our corners to see if anyone was going to jump out at us. Cole was looking behind us, trying to pinpoint a few weird sounds we were hearing. We finally found an elevator and descended further into the facility. There were more signs of battle down there, making us all the more cautious.

"I've got a _bad_ feeling about this…" I muttered.

Cole chuckled. "Star Wars reference?"

"It hasn't failed me yet." I stepped on something, and studied it. It was a book of sorts. "I'm gonna check this out!"

While I was flipping through the pages (which happened to be filled with meaningless formulas and equations), Cole scouted ahead. When I got to a page that somewhat interested me, I started reading:

_**"Subject has increasing forms of aggression towards Kessler. While Kessler assured us that this was supposed to happen, the Subject has repeatedly tried to escape. In order to rectify this, we're injecting the Subject with something to help them sleep, so we can get inside of their cage and study them further. Kessler doesn't mind at all, just as long as it doesn't harm the Subject."**_

I tore the page from the book and folded it into my pant pocket. I poked around further, looking into any books I could find that might contain more information, but I couldn't find anything.

"Great! And the book was just getting interesting!" I teased, trying to lighten my mood.

"Hey, Jo! Come check this out!" Cole called.

I followed his voice and the light his blue lightning gave off. But what I saw I didn't exactly like. There were bodies everywhere. Horribly mutated bodies. I couldn't tell if they'd even been human.

And in the middle of the room was some sort of helmet and gauntlet thing, suspended in the air by wires. Or tubes. Whatever they were, they were holding 'em up.

"The hell is this?" I wondered aloud.

Cole shrugged. "Beats me." He glanced over and saw something covered by a file cabinet. He and I searched the cabinet for anything, but when we found nothing he used a shockwave of electricity and tossed the filing cabinet away.

"It's a notebook," I told him, scooping it up and sitting on the table. "Maybe it'll tell us what that thing is?"

"Well, get reading. Your bad feeling is rubbing off!" Cole snapped, and then looked at where we'd come from. "I'll be over there keeping watch."

I nodded. "Okay."

I started reading when Cole was a ways away. I quickly realized that this wasn't any ordinary journal.

It was Kessler's.

_**Journal Entry #13:**_

_**"She's been giving us trouble again. Stupid child. She doesn't realize that doing this to her is necessary. How else can I get the Cole of this time his powers unless we test it on her? But how to explain this to a child who has lived her life in captivity? How to tell her that she was conceived because it was necessary for us to advance in our production of the Ray Sphere? Ever since she could cry, she's been subjected to everything we believed would bring us closer to the Ray Sphere. Surely she could understand one day that this also is going to help save the world. If Cole was the door, Kayce would be the lock, and we still need the key! Alden managed to break in today, and tried to take Kayce by force. I didn't let him, and he slapped her hard across the face. I shot him out of our base and had us relocated. He'll never get her. Never."**_

_** Journal Entry #27:**_

_** "Today, we injected her with more of our serum. She was screaming bloody murder, something about being burnt from the inside out. Good. Knowing what formula gives a fire Conduit powers will help us find something for the electric Conduit, and therefore give Cole his powers. It's almost time. The Ray Sphere is nearly complete. Dana is working on gaining Kayce's trust, and is going to plant a lockpick at the back of Kayce's cage. On the day of the blast, they'll escape. Hopefully, they'll get away beforehand, and Dana can study Kayce. See if she got abilities, or if she's another failure. That would be a shame, considering all the time I put into raising her. I don't think she understands just who she is exactly."**_

_** Journal Entry #44:**_

_** "It's time. I've just phoned Cole and told him to open the package. Kayce and Dana are escaping as I write. Everything has fallen perfectly into place. Soon, Cole will become the hero everyone needs him to be. Perhaps he can guide Kayce as well? But Cole needs to watch out for Dana; I have a feeling that she's going to betray the First Sons and take Moya Jones' offer. Either way, she'll have to watch the development of Kayce's powers firsthand—if she gets them. It would be interesting though, seeing as she's a potential fire Conduit, and I, her father, am an electric Conduit. This brings a new light onto my research. Not all Conduits pass down their power, but are able to give their children the potential to become one. Excellent."**_

_** Journal Entry #45:**_

_** "This will be my last entry in this journal, as the First Sons have become compromised. He's found our base. I will not let all the work I put into this be destroyed, especially by him! I've been monitoring Kayce. She has indeed gained the title of fire Conduit, but she's also contracted amnesia. Dana has been unsuccessful in finding her, and her reports are becoming less and less frequent. I fear she has indeed become a member of DARPA, and is going to lead Moya Jones to this very location. I've taught her well. Too well. But being that Kayce is her half-sister should make her soften up. Kayce has no doubt retained her personality, as she had always been too stubborn to listen to me. When she was young, I would hit her and she would cry. As she got older, I would hit her and she'd try to hit back—and she was sometimes successful. I have no doubt that soon her memories will return, and she will realize her place as a vessel for new Conduits. Humanity will be forced to accept both her and Cole as saviours—or as conquerors."**_

__I dropped the journal, unable to look at anything more (mainly because there _was_ nothing more). Cole came over and picked it up, a quizzical look on his face.

"The last chapter is the most interesting one I've read yet in a book!" I told him, trying my best to smile. "My only question is… do I keep calling you Cole? Or do you prefer 'dad'?"

Cole flipped the journal open and read it. All of it. At a few parts his mouth fell open in shock. And then he looked up at me and tried to say something.

"Yeah. Me being your potential daughter isn't exactly the way I thought it would end up, either," I told him.

I heard a huff not far away and quickly turned to look at the entrance. Dana stood there, her arms crossed and her face set.

"I knew you'd come here," she said. "You were always too curious."

"Dana?" I took a step forward, but stopped when I saw something that I hadn't even noticed before.

We were surrounded by DARPA troops.

"Now," Dana said, drawing a handgun from her coat and aiming it at me, "let's talk."


	12. Betrayed

Chapter Eleven:

Betrayed

Cole activated his lightning to the max. "You think a little thing like that's gonna hurt us?"

Dana smirked. "Oh, it will. Ordinary bullets don't work on Kayce, but infuse 'em with a bit of quicksilver and I've got a dangerous weapon in my hands." She cocked her head, motioning to her troops. "As for these guys, they've got state-of-the-art water guns trained on you, Cole."

I snickered. "Oh wow, Cole. 'Death by Water Gun!' I can see the headlines now!"

"Oh, shut _up_!" he snapped, and let his lightning fade away.

I glared at Dana. "First, how is it that you've joined DARPA? Second, is what I read in that journal true? And third, how do I know if those bullets even _work_?"

Dana narrowed her eyes. "I joined DARPA because Kessler killed my _mother_!" she spat, glaring at Cole. "We had the same mother, Kayce, but my father wasn't a _monster_! What you read was true, every word of it. You were nothing but '_necessary'_." She twirled her gun. "We haven't tested this on you yet, so we actually don't know if it works on you."

"So, how about we talk over a coffee instead? We can just put the guns away and maybe have some biscuits and—."

A shot sounded in the air. I looked at my gut, where I finally registered the pain. I doubled-over, holding my stomach and trying not to show exactly how much pain I was in.

"Hm! It works!" Dana observed, examining the gun. "The weakness of a fire Conduit… _quicksilver_!"

I got onto my knees, still holding my stomach. I knew Cole couldn't move to help me, or he'd get really wet. "You are one _hell_ of a devious bitch."

"And you're a _freak_!" she spat. "I hate Conduits! I hate you, Kayce, because you're one of them! And I hate you, Cole! You're Kessler, through and through! That's all I'll ever see you as!"

"And you were wondering if I was wrong about suspecting my sister…" I muttered to Cole, who frowned. "Hey, Dana! I know a way we can settle this! How about a 'Yo Dadda' fight? I mean, we can't do 'Yo Momma', because we'd be insulting the same person…" Dana shot me in the leg. "_Goddammit_ would you stop _doing_ that?"

"Let me get this straight with you, Kayce," Dana said, kicking me over onto my side and placing her foot on my ribs. "I want you dead. Moya wants you both captured and brought to her, _alive_. You see where we disagree?"

"Can I just say that I disagree with both of you…?" And the bitch shot me in the other leg.

She placed the barrel of the gun on my head. "I'm giving you this last chance to die peacefully. One more word and I shoot you in the shoulder, and you'll die _slowly_ and _painfully_."

I smiled, and tossed her off of me. I got up shakily, but tried to look as menacing as I possibly could. "So, we're packin' heat now, huh?" I asked, and then activated my fire. "Well, so am I."

Cole electrocuted everyone by stepping in the puddle to his right. I put up a fire shield and melted any bullets (or water) that happened to stray from their guns. When the shield went down, only Dana was standing. Man, was she ever _stubborn_! Or resilient. Whichever one worked out.

Dana raised her gun, little shocks coming from her fingertips. "You… _You'll pay for that_!"

Cole tossed a bit of lightning at Dana and knocked the gun out of her hands, which I quickly destroyed by curb-stomping it. Dana lunged at me, wrapping her arms around my neck as I tried to get her off of my back. Cole tried to get her off but all he was doing was helping her to suffocate me.

"Can't… Breathe…!" I wheezed.

Cole finally decided that letting me die wasn't the best course of action. He electrocuted Dana (again) and got her off of me, pinning her arms to her sides.

"I hate you!" she screamed. "I want you to die! I want both of you to die! Especially _you_, Kessler!"

I did something that I wasn't exactly proud of, but it shut her up.

Yes, I slapped her across the face.

"Dana, you listen and you listen good!" I told her while she just stared at me in disbelief. "I wanted Kessler dead too, but he's _gone_! There's only Cole, and no one else! Kessler _died_ at Cole's hands, and now he's righting Kessler's wrongs! You want me dead? You aren't even old enough to carry around a gun! I don't know why DARPA's decided to give kids guns these days, but shooting people _is not the answer_!" I took Cole's arms away from Dana's and wrapped her hands around my neck. "You want me dead? You hate me so much that you want to kill me? Well do it! This is your chance _right here_, Dana!"

I felt her grip tighten.

"Joan…!" Cole saw me glare at him, and he backed off. But I knew he wasn't going to let her kill me anyway.

"Do it," I coaxed, and helped her hands close more. "Do it, already!"

She hesitated. Please, please, please let her think this through! I don't like this bluff any more than Cole!

"_DO IT_!" I roared at her.

And she let go. She knew what would happen if she killed someone; she'd lose her innocence. The thing that the world needed the most from her.

"Then go back to DARPA and tell them you want to resign," I told her, as I started walking towards the exit. "They don't want people who aren't willing to kill in their name, or unwilling to follow their orders."


	13. Chance

Chapter Twelve:

Chance

I hadn't been outside in days. Cole and Zeke had to operate on me to get the bullets out, but the quicksilver had already injected into my system, so my healing factors were _kaput_. Cole would visit regularly, often yelling at me for not being in bed or taking it easy (I was exercising. I have to stay in shape for the Reapers, don't I?). I guess his paternal instinct was activated after finding out that I _could have been his daughter_. Or _could be_, depending on how his fight with "The Beast" turns out.

I didn't like staying in my apartment all day. It would've been bearable if Dana was around, but she hadn't shown her face since she confronted us with her DARPA lackeys. I have to admit I was a bit crushed that my own sister would want me dead, but still relieved that she didn't do it. I was pissed though. I mean, she shot me _three friggin' times_! Who _does_ that? C'mon, people! It hurt like a _mother_!

Zeke would often come with some new food drops and help me re-stock. I was happy that he was really making an effort to help out, especially with Cole, but it was kinda creepy sometimes.

When we finished re-stocking my fridge, I flopped onto my couch, accidentally igniting pain in all three of my wounds.

"Dammit!" I cursed, and rubbed my legs. "Note to self: _stay_ _away_ from quicksilver bullets."

"I woulda thought water'd be your weakness," Zeke said, leaning on the armchair across from the couch.

"Nah, that's Cole's. I don't really get how quicksilver jumps into the mix, but all I need to know is that it hurts and I want it to go away so I can take some stress out on some Reapers."

Zeke stretched. "Well, I'd best get back. There're some batteries that I gotta get to some people."

"Alright. Tell _dad_ I said 'hi'." I loved to call Cole 'dad'. It kinda ticked him off.

Zeke gave me a questioning look. "Whatcha mean, '_dad'_?" he asked.

"Cole didn't tell you?" I chuckled weakly. "Wow. He really isn't fond of it, is he?" I caught the look Zeke gave me, even under his sunglasses, and frowned. "Technically, Kessler's my dad, and therefore it makes me part of Cole's gene pool. I mean, different timeline's don't really count, right?"

"Cole's a _dad_?" Zeke shrieked, his hands grasping the sides of his head in shock. "That means I'm an _uncle_! I'm too _young_ to be an uncle!"

_Yeah, sure._ "Fine. Just tell him not to take the power out of my TV again or I'm gonna leave a bucket of water over the door the next time he comes in."

Zeke saluted. "Roger that, super-lady!"

"And if you call me 'super-lady' again, I'm going to burn _all_ of your TV's!" I threatened.

He got the message and left. I sighed and rubbed my legs, feeling totally powerless and cooped-up. I chuckled dryly. _Well, this isn't super boring. When's that quicksilver leaving my system…?_

I entertained myself for the rest of the day by seeing what happens if I throw a fireball into a tub of water. It was pretty cool, so I did that for about three hours. Bored? Check. Easily amused? Check.

I finally decided to get to bed and rest up a bit, since my legs were kinda sorta screaming at me. Geez, I'm just getting nagged everywhere, aren't I?

I was dreaming (not peacefully, mind you) when the back of my brain started setting off a ton of alarm. I shot my eyes open and punched as I sat up… But there was no one.

I sighed, smiling. "Whatcha doin', Joan? You're going crazy!"

I lay back in the bed and tried to get comfortable again when I heard someone chuckle from the foot of my bed. "Wow. You almost hit me there!"

I peeked up and saw nothing… Well, until they just appeared in front of me. He was wearing the outfit that the Reaper Conduits wore; a cream-ish trenchcoat, but his hood was down, and the jerk was _smiling_.

"Morning!" he greeted. "You want a coffee or somethin'?"

I gave him a good look before I answered. "I'd love some! But, then again, I'd really like if I knew who you are so I don't burn that pretty face of yours and kick your ass for breaking-and-entering."

"I didn't break-and-enter!" he exclaimed, pointing to the open, undamaged door. "I knocked!"

"Right, because that clears everything up." I frowned. "What the hell're you doing in here then? And why were you invisible?"

"Oh, I forgot!" he exclaimed, slapping his head. "Sorry. My name's Alec Chance, and I'm a Conduit like you!"

"That much was apparent," I said.

He smiled shyly. "Well, I tracked you down and I figured it'd be cool if all the Conduits worked together!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Isn't this a bit sudden? I mean sure, Cole could definitely use the help, but I'm kinda incapacitated right now and as much as I hate it, I gotta stay in here."

"That's okay! I've already met Cole! He told me to help take care of you!" Alec explained.

"Oh, great," I said sarcastically. "Because Cole couldn't babysit me enough, now he's getting a complete stranger to watch over me!" I sighed. "What kind of a Conduit are you, exactly?"

"They call me a shadow Conduit," Alec replied. "I can merge with shadows and use them to cause illusions."

"That's useful," I commented. "You use it lots?"

"Nah. I don't like to creep on people."

"Except for me, apparently."

He shrugged innocently. "Cole told me that you were kinda violent and really good at sensing where people are, so I was just tryin' to be careful!"

"Violent?" I exclaimed, and shot out of the bed. "Oh, I'll show that pompous light bulb what violent really means!"

"And he told me that if you tried to get him, I'm to get you with this sedative…" He pulled out a rather large needle that I didn't feel very fond of. "He wants you to rest."

Reluctantly, I went back into bed. Reapers? Easy. Needles? Hell no.

Alec grabbed me a coffee and gave me all the stuff I needed to personalize it (cream and sugar). I sipped it cautiously as Alec watched me, smiling.

"That's a teeny bit creepy, dude," I told him.

"Oh, I don't mind."

I frowned. "I do."

He turned invisible. "Better?"

"Of course not!" I snapped. "I swear, as soon as I get out of this stupid apartment, I'm gonna kill Cole!" Alec reappeared and chuckled. "Hey, what kind of a name is Alec Chance?"

"Well, my real name was Wiener, so…"

I held my hands up. "I get it."

"You know…" Alec said, holding up his mug in a salute, "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

I shook my head and bumped my mug against his. "Think whatcha want, invisaboy."


	14. Escape

Chapter Thirteen:

Escape

A few days later, I survived the quicksilver. Alec was bouncing around, trying to keep me inside to make sure I was fine. Now that my healing factor had kicked in, I was feeling ten times better, so I didn't let Alec keep me inside.

I was in my usual clothing and had my nodachi with me. There was gonna be blood—and it would be that of the Reapers. Alec insisted her come with me and watch my back, and then Cole heard us arguing and decided to come along as well. You know those manga or anime characters that you see on TV? Well, imagine that gigantic anger mark on my head as Cole, Alec and I were running on the rooftops, them constantly asking if I was tired and needed a break. It just kept getting bigger and bigger.

A few Reapers were firing at some civilians, and they had a lovely Reaper Conduit with 'em. Cole and I jumped off of a building and landed onto some Reapers. We made quick work of the Reapers, but Alec was the one who took out the Conduit.

How, you ask? Oh, no way in particular… He only shot them with the friggin' sniper rifle he had stored God knows where! But that idiot seemed pretty content with himself that he got us out of a sticky situation that could have potentially become much, much worse.

"I want one," I told Cole as Alec met up with us.

He glared at me. "Oh no. No way. You've got a nodachi, and you're a walking lighter. You have enough weapons."

I kinda wanted to pout. Just a little bit.

"The Reapers in this part of the Warren are completely wiped-out," Alec told us. "If we move into the Neon, we can probably stop them at the source."

"I thought I'd stopped them when I defeated Sasha the _first_ time…" Cole mumbled, obviously a teeny bit stressed.

I shook my head. "We never get cut any slack." I sighed. "So, we have to move into the Neon and find where all the Reapers are coming from, and shut it down?"

"For good." Alec slung the sniper rifle over his shoulder and made it invisible. "I think if we move in now, we could catch them by surprise."

I smiled and headed for the Neon. "Oh don't worry; they'll be surprised. Whether they like it or not."

It took about a half hour to reach the Neon District. Cole and Zeke had lived here (on a rooftop. Big surprise) before moving to the Warren, where it would be easier to get to the Historic District. Cole knew this place like the back of his hand, and led us in a charge to the tunnel where he'd originally fought Sasha.

Well, nothing was there.

"Where could she have moved it…?" Cole wondered aloud as Alec and I fought off the Reapers.

"Maybe she took it all with her to DARPA?" I suggested.

Alec laughed. "Yeah, because DARPA is going to let a crazy bitch like her keep all of her evil Reaper stuff."

"It was just a suggestion…"

Cole upturned a table and found a piece of paper taped to the bottom. "Hey! I got something!"

"Ah, the old 'if-this-plan-doesn't-work-move-your-shit-to-this-place-and-leave-a-clue-in-an-obvious-spot' trick. She really wasn't that smart, was she?" I heard Cole and Alec laugh a bit as I punched a Reaper in the head.

"Well, this should be our next destination," Cole said, folding the piece of paper and putting it in one of his pockets. "Now, let's get outta here!"

"Right behind you!" I sent a blast of fire at the Reapers, and Cole leaped through the flames, followed closely by Alec.

I came after, making sure that most of the Reapers were distracted by fire. When I got out, Cole was handling the Reapers that were getting too close to Alec, while Alec picked 'em off with his sniper rifle. I had to admit; the boy was good with it.

"So where are we headed?" I asked as the gas station next to us exploded (which wasn't my fault).

"The Warren," Cole replied. "It seems that most of the Reapers were routed here, so it would seem as if they were still coming from the Neon."

"Crazy bitch," I heard Alec mutter.

"So we'd better head back," I said as the last of the Reapers fell. "We can get ammo and rest up before we head in."

"Sounds like a plan," Cole said, and then paused when his phone rang.

"What is it?" I asked.

Cole checked the caller ID. "It's _Moya_."

"Are you gonna answer it?" Alec asked.

Cole thought for a moment before he put the phone on speaker. "What do you want, Moya?"

_"We have a… situation,"_ Moya said. _"Alden and Sasha have escaped. DARPA is currently searching around the facility for them, but we fear that they may already be in Empire City."_

I think I really wanted to punch somebody. Seriously, DARPA has the best security I've seen yet, and somehow they let two psychopaths escape?

"And you want us to hunt 'em down, right?" Cole asked, the disdain just dripping off of his voice.

_"I know we haven't gotten along in the past, but doing this would automatically put you in DARPA's favour."_

"All of us?" Cole asked, glancing at Alec and I.

_"Yes."_

Cole looked at us again for some recognition. Our input, pretty much. I shrugged, and Alec nodded.

"Okay, we're in," Cole said.

_"Good."_ I could hear Moya's relief. _"We're sending two agents with you. They'll take care of getting Alden and Sasha out of Empire City, and are going to be joining you while you look for those psychopaths."_

I already knew who one of them would be. It would be just my luck. A helicopter passed over us, and the DARPA agent jumped down, landing gracefully on their feet.

"Dana," I greeted a bit sourly.

She frowned. "Kayce."

She wasn't wearing what I was used to seeing her in; now she was wearing DARPA armour and showing off a ton of weapons. She looked much older when she was wearing her uniform. The other person was a guy, and not just any guy.

It was Ben.

"Mornin' beautiful!" Ben said, smiling like an idiot at me. "How've you been?"

That anger mark I mentioned earlier? Yeah, it was on my head. And it was huge.

I smiled. "How have I been?" Without so much as a warning, I punched him in the face. "You have the _gall_ to _disappear_, come back a _DARPA_ _agent_ and _flirt_ with me, asking me _how I've been_? You _bastard_!"

Ben quickly retreated behind Dana. "Hey! You almost broke my nose!"

"Good! You bastard! I'm gonna friggin' _kill_ you!"

"Chill, Kayce! I-I mean Joan! Er… Kayce?" Ben made a face. "What do I call you now?"

_"I take it that you don't like the agents I sent?"_ Moya asked over the phone. _"Please just bear it and try not to kill them."_

I frowned and crossed my arms. "Well, what now?"

"Go after Alden and Sasha. Find out where they are, and bring them down so we can take them back into custody."

"Yeah, because you guys did a fan-freakin'-tastic job last time," Cole said.

"Please, just do it." Moya hung up as I stuck my tongue out at the phone.

"Hard to believe _you're_ seventeen," Dana murmured, seeing my childish moment.

I glared at her. "Hard to believe _you're_ around fifteen."

Oh _yes_. I could already tell that this was going to be an _excruciatingly_ long man (and bitch) hunt.


	15. Strength

Chapter Fourteen:

Strength

"Are we there _yet_?" I asked again.

Cole shook his head. "For the seventh billionth time, _no_."

I sighed. "Walking is so _slow_."

"Not all of us can fly," Dana said, crossing her arms. "The helicopter left us, so we have to walk. We don't have a car, either."

"And I can't ride in a car," Cole added matter-of-factly. "They blow up."

I sighed again. "I hate this so much."

"Well, we have to grin and bear it," Dana said. "I don't like it any more than you do."

"Why didn't you leave DARPA?" I asked suddenly.

She glanced at me, frowning. "Because that's all I have."

"Sure. What about our mother?"

"_My_ mother," Dana spat. "She's most likely dead. I haven't checked."

I rolled my eyes. "You're a _kid_, and you haven't checked if _our_ mother has keeled over yet?"

"Don't talk about her like that!" she snapped at me. "What would I do with her anyway, knowing that she gave birth to a _freak_?"

I sighed and patted her on the back. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Dana."

Dana slapped my hand away as she caught my joke. "You bitch! I'll kill you!"

"Okay, ladies!" Ben said, getting in Dana's way as I playfully stuck my tongue out. "That's enough! We have a different enemy today, and it isn't the Conduits, Dana."

She frowned and walked ahead of me, muttering something about being unlucky that her gun didn't have any quicksilver in it.

"You're welcome," Ben said to me.

I smiled sweetly. "Screw off."

Ben looked taken aback. "What? C'mon, Joan! You aren't still mad about the whole DARPA thing, are you?"

"Of _course_ I am!" _Big time._ I mean, seriously! The guy acted like a douchebag! "And next time I have the chance, I'll break your nose _for_ _real_."

"Geez, Joan! You don't have to be ticked! Yes, I admit I was technically scouting you out for DARPA to see if you got any powers, but you were definitely my friend!"

"I'm glad you feel that way," I said, frowning, "because I don't."

Cole grabbed my arm and brought me to walk beside him, casting an "I-really-don't-like-you" glance at Ben.

"Joan, calm down," he told me. "Let's just find Alden and Sasha, and then we'll be rid of 'em."

I crossed my arms. "Fine. But the sooner we find 'em, the better. Let's get moving."

"No need!" I heard Sasha shriek. "I've _found_ you!"

I grinned. "Speak of the bitch."

I raised my fist just over my shoulder, so it kinda looked like I was flexing a tiny bicep, but it was totally planned out already. Sasha appeared behind me, lunged, and crashed into my fist.

"Oh _wow_. You _are_ stupid, aren't you?" I asked her, putting my boot on her face (as she had slid to the ground in a daze, just in case you got a bit confused). "You coulda dodged that!"

Sasha shot her arm at me and sunk some pretty nasty nails into my thigh. I cried out, the pain unexpected… And it kinda hit my bullet wound. I brought my leg off of her as a reflex, and she jumped up, hissing and spitting.

My leg was bleeding minorly. Cole had already turned on his lightning, Alec was at a safe distance readying his sniper rifle, Dana and Ben were just getting their handguns out, and there I was, the only one without my weapon out.

I ignored the pain in my leg and took out my nodachi, then activated my flames and made them engulf the blade. _Good thing I decided to dip it in oil today,_ I thought. _Cole's probably gonna have a cow though._

Unfortunately, we were all knocked back by a blast of telekinesis, which came from Alden, the bastard. He pinned us against the wall, knocking the wind out of each of us.

"Good evening, children," Alden greeted. "Good work, Sasha. Now we can kill each one of them."

Sasha was holding her nose. "_Ugh_! That little bitch _broke_ my _nose_! My _beautiful_ _nose_!"

"Maybe you should invest in a mirror, Sasha!" I said, smirking. "You actually _look_ better!" I looked at Ben. "I can break _her_ nose, but _yours_? What the hell?"

Alden made a brick smash me in the face. "No talking! Class is in session!"

"I _can't believe_ he just said that…" Cole mumbled, shaking his head.

I grinned. "You know, there's one thing you don't know about me, Alden." I upped my flames, and blasted them forward. "I've never been one for rules!"

Alec got the idea and wrapped a shadow around my flames. It was so cool. He managed to toss the flames at Alden, who batted them away, giving Cole just enough time to shoot a lightning bolt at the two weirdos.

Alden lost focus and the telekinesis ended. I rolled away as soon as I hit the ground, Sasha chasing after me. Dana shot at her, but only managed to clip her arm.

"Hey! Sasha!" I waved at Sasha, giving away my position as her focus returned to me. "Catch me if you can! If you do, I'll give you Cole's number!"

Oh, that got her goin'. She charged after me, diving into a tiny puddle of tar and disappearing. I climbed up to a roof with a water tower, one that Sasha blew the top off of and floated over. Some of that ridiculous tar got into my eyes again, and I silently cursed myself. I should really wear goggles or somethin'.

Sasha tossed a tar grenade at me, and I rolled away, but right into a puddle of tar. Her hands leapt out, taking hold of my feet and dragging me under. I held my breath and opened my eyes, only to see Sasha winking at me. I couldn't help myself from gagging.

"You're _mine_," she whispered.

The tar filled my mouth mercilessly. I kept getting into the retching position, only nothing came, and then I remembered something: _I'm a friggin' _fire_ Conduit!_

I turned my flames on and maxed them out, the tar instantly burning around me, and from inside of me. Sasha screamed and tossed me out of the tar, throwing me almost harmlessly into the floor.

I spat out some sparks from my mouth, gagging from the taste. "_Ugh_! It tastes like _feet_ wrapped in _burnt bacon_! _Blech_!"

Sasha grabbed my windbreaker and held me up to her face level.

"His number," she snapped. "_Now_."

I shook my head. "I said _catch_ me, not try to _seduce_ me."

Right on cue, Dana shot at Sasha, who dropped me and dodged just in time. Dana shot several more times, clipping Sasha around three times in the same arm, before Sasha reached her and grabbed her throat.

"You're a pretty one too," she remarked, smirking. "But too young for my tastes."

"Dana!" I rushed at Sasha, but she brought Dana to the edge of the rooftop.

In those last seconds, I became aware of so many things. The first was that time had literally slowed down, proving to me that I wasn't fast enough. The next was that my hair was standing on end, and I could somehow _feel_ it burning. Another was that Sasha had called some tar-tentacles out from the puddles of the crap. The last was Dana looking at me, with a look in her eye that said, "_I don't want to die_".

Sasha released Dana, and she fell.


	16. Saviour

Chapter Fifteen:

Saviour

I leaped off the rooftop and dived down, the wind whipping at my face. I heard Sasha laughing, Dana screaming, and gunshots. I extended my hand to Dana's, and even though I was sure she still hated me, she grasped it.

But those creepy tentacles of Sasha's grabbed me around the waist, and before I could burn them off, they pulled me back onto the rooftop, Dana being brought along for the ride.

"Oh, damn," Sasha said, and pouted. "You caught her."

My anger flared up. I was barely aware that the area around me started to burn, regardless that the stone physically couldn't burn. I burnt the tentacles off and stood up, the pain in my leg totally gone. I pushed harder with my fire, willing it to become stronger. Strong so I could defeat—no, kill Sasha, for thinking that she could try to kill Dana, the only family I really had, and the only connection to my past.

"You made a mistake," I told her. "And you're gonna pay for it with your pathetic life."

Sasha was smiling, but not anymore. She coughed, again and again, and then doubled-over, holding her throat. My heat was so intense it was taking away the air around us, suffocating anything that was foolish enough to be within twenty metres of me. The remaining water from the water tower was boiling, the black tar was burning, and the top of the building was on fire.

I raised my hands above my head almost robotically, following what my instincts were telling me to do. The clouds above us turned from white, to grey, to black. I looked at Sasha, meeting her fearful gaze, and smiled.

"Go to hell, bitch," I said, and threw my arms down.

A pillar of flame erupted from the clouds and struck the rooftop, engulfing the entire building in a tornado of fire, and then it exploded, taking two other buildings out with it.

I coughed and sputtered, trying to get the debris out of my lungs. It figured that _dust_ would be able to get past my fire shield, but big rocks? _No_. It _had_ to be the annoying stuff.

I put the unconscious form of Dana on my back (piggy-back style, of course), and grabbed Sasha's wrist, dragging her out of the toppled ruins of the building.

A DARPA helicopter was already taking an unconscious Alden away, and when Cole saw me I think he wanted to zap me a few times.

"Joan! Are you okay? What the hell happened?" he asked.

I roughly threw Sasha's arm to the ground. "She pissed me off."

Cole sighed. "So you destroyed three buildings?"

"It got a bit out of hand, I admit. But hey, I didn't meet my goal, so you should at least be happy."

A firm eyebrow on his face rose. "What goal?"

"Kill Sasha," I said simply, shrugging. "She tried to kill Dana, and was being a pervert."

"So that's justification to kill someone?" Cole exclaimed.

I shrugged. "I dunno."

"You don't know…" Cole hand a hand over his head and the little blonde pricks of hair. "Joan, being angry at someone isn't a reason to kill 'em."

"Call it an urge, but I really wanted to." I kicked Sasha's body. "Too bad I didn't. I coulda rid the world of one crazy bitch."

Cole groaned. "Like I said, nothing justifies killing someone."

"Only when they kill your girlfriend, right?" I shot back, catching him off-guard. "Cole, the next time you want to lecture me about killing someone, try to realize that what you did was exactly what I was going to do. Except for the person, there was almost no difference."

Okay, I felt super-bad about saying it, but at the time I was being a douche and I didn't give a shit about his feelings. I just brushed past him and got Dana to the helicopter, a medic quickly attending to her.

I was about to walk away when Dana's hand shot out and grasped mine. "You…!" she choked. "Why did you… save me?"

"I don't friggin' care if we don't get along, Dana," I told her. "Fact is, you're my sister, and I'll protect anyone who shares my blood. Except Kessler. That bastard deserved to die."

"Is Sasha…?"

I shook my head. "Nope. That bitch is one tough cookie. Speaking of which, I'm starving, so I'm gonna go grab one." I wriggled out of her grasp and waved. "Keep in touch!"

So, the day ended with me _nearly_ _killing_ Sasha, _obliterating_ three buildings, being a _jerk_ to Cole, and being n_i_ce to the person who _shot_ _me_ _three_ _times_ with _quicksilver_ _bullets_.

Oh, and I got that cookie.


	17. Heart

Chapter Sixteen:

Heart

"But I don't _wanna_ be your dummy!" Alec whined.

I sighed, balling my fists to get a grip on my annoyance. "For God sakes, Alec! I'm not gonna friggin' _kill_ ya!"

Alec pouted. "But—!"

"Say 'but' one more time, and I _will_ kill you!" He looked like he was about to whine again, so I held up my hand. "This'll help me out with my powers, Alec. If I can try to get a better hold of them, then I won't topple anymore buildings."

"And _then_ can we get back to the Reapers?" he asked hopefully.

I nodded. "Sure. My wounds're fully healed, so it shouldn't be a problem."

He smiled. Alec was just like a little kid when looking forward to something concerning beating up the Reapers. He was about to become my testing dummy because Cole and I discovered he had something called "Shadow Vision", which allowed him to check the strengths and weaknesses of a power. He could also gauge just how much energy it would take us when using a power, and when we'd become tired and vulnerable.

"It's a good thing that we decided to come to Ground Zero to do this test," Alec said. "I didn't want your apartment to blow up."

_Again_, I added remorsefully in my head. "Explain to me again why you're sleeping on my couch?"

"I don't like Cole's roof," he replied, shrugging. "It's drafty."

I mentally gave myself a facepalm. "Okay, I'm gonna try to do this!"

Alec nodded and focused his eyes. I activated my fire, which had extended again to the middle of my back on both sides. They now looked like a "V" before extending to my arms. I felt my skin start to prickle as my hair stood on end and started on fire as I continued maxing-out my energy.

"What was this power exactly?" he asked.

I focused more, almost ignoring him. "I made the clouds turn black and a gigantic column of fire came from the centre, where I was focusing."

"Well, I've noticed that most of your powers are activated when you have a certain feeling coursing through you." Alec crouched on the ground, but didn't take his eyes out of focus. "When your Conduit powers activated, it was survival. As you got stronger, it was definitely rage. But you haven't been able to find a way to gain anymore powers, unlike Cole who got his from the sewers."

I frowned. "I'm not going down to the sewers, if that's what you're suggesting."

A few minutes later, nothing happened. I'd only managed to put my hair on fire, but it died quickly.

"Damn! Why can't I do it?"

"Like I said, when you re-enact those feelings, you'll get the same result." He pointed to my hands. "When you activate your power, your will to survive leaps forward and takes over. You get it?"

I nodded. "I think so. You know what? Shut up. It pisses me off when you act all smart."

Alec smirked. "I think you should go back to the apartment and take a rest. Maybe if you figure out how to get more powers, then we can try to get some more for you."

"And what about you?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

Alec shrugged. "I'm fine with just merging into shadows, making illusions, and going invisible." He grinned and his sniper rifle materialized in his hands. "And my sniper rifle!"

I smacked him upside the head. "Stop showing off! I want to get one, but Cole went around town and told everyone that owns one not to sell me one! And you keep hiding yours! This is so unfair!"

Alec made his sniper rifle disappear. Where it went? I had no clue. "You have a nodachi, Jo. That should be good enough!"

I grumbled and stalked off towards the Warren. "You are an asshole, invisaboy."

"I hate that nickname!" Alec exclaimed.

Okay, so it turned out (after major brain-farts for nearly two days) I had to walk through and absorb flames that I didn't produce to get new powers. Of course, flames that I haven't produced are hard to come by.

Alec and Cole teamed up and destroyed a tanker of Reaper tar, creating a huge inferno that even I was impressed about.

"There!" Cole said, gesturing to the flames. "Flames that you didn't produce!"

"So I just walk in there?" I asked.

Alec shrugged. "I guess."

"And what happens if it doesn't work?" When I didn't get an answer, I sighed. "Fine! I'll just walk into the fire of possible destiny and stand there until I feel stronger, or the flames die! How's that?"

They both gave me a thumbs-up.

I groaned and walked into the fire, crossing my arms, and turned to face them both. "If this doesn't work, I'm gonna burn you guys up!"

Cole snickered. "You're pretty violent, you know that?"

"No shit, Sherlock!" I snapped. "Pissing me off…!"

I felt a tingling in my hand and looked down at it. The flames were leaning towards me, coiling around my hands, then my arms, and all the way to my neck.

"Guys? Yeah, this is kinda creepy…" I stepped out of the flames, and as I did they died instantly. "Creepy, but kinda cool."

Cole grinned. "It's a good thing you didn't wear your windbreaker today!"

I glared at him. "Why is that?"

He pointed to my arms. "Check that out!"

I looked at my arms and, sure enough, they were different. They were covered in dark orange-that-faded-to-black tattoos that looked tribal. They ran up my arms to the base of my jaw, and (after examination by Cole) around my shoulder-blades in the same "V" formation my flames had been in previously.

"Whenever you get more powerful," Alec said, "your flames increase in strength and they extend from your arms more freely."

So I noticed, Einstein. I grinned. "So, shall we see how much stronger I've gotten?"

Cole took a step back. "Just in case," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "I doubt it's gonna be _that_ bad." I clenched my fist. "Here goes!"

I maxed out my flames almost instantly, though I didn't notice anything at first, besides my body was warmer. My eyes were shut tight, just in case they turned out to be out of control, but they seemed fine.

When I opened my eyes, I could see everyone's heat signatures, along with that of the machines and other things.

_**"Hey, cool! Heat vision (of sorts)!"**_ I grinned, but then a confused look crossed my face. _**"Why do I sound so weird…?"**_

Cole and Alec were staring at me, stunned. I looked at my arms, covered in fire like usual, and then the rest of my body. Just like the first time I found out I had fire powers, I stared at myself dumbly.

And then, the silence subsided. _**"I'M ON FIRE!"**_ I yelled, and started running around frantically, then dived to the ground. _**"Stop drop 'n roll! Stop drop 'n roll! Why do I have to stop? I should just be rolling!"**_

__I think I was rolling on the ground for a good five minutes before I realized Cole and Alec were laughing their asses off. To pissed-off to just leave them be, I jumped back onto my feet and gave them a death-glare.

"What the hell are you two laughing at?" I snapped, having remembered that I was usually on fire anyways. "You can't blame me for overreacting a l'il bit!"

Cole doubled-over on the ground in laughter as my flames slowly subsided. Alec was wiping tears from his eyes, and then his face turned from happy to concerned in an instant. But then it went back to smiling, so I couldn't help but think I imagined it.

"I-I gotta go back… to Zeke's!" Cole managed to get out, and then ran away laughing. He almost looked like a madman.

But as soon as he left, Alec's face returned to being concerned. "Jo…"

I glared at him. "Oh, what now?"

His eyes were focused. "Oh God, Jo…"

"What?" I seriously wanted to slap him. _What is it with everyone and dramatic effects?_

"It looks like you got all the powers you needed just from that," he said.

"Well, that's good news!" I said, smiling in triumph. "So, what's the matter?"

"Don't use so much of your powers next time," he warned.

I tilted my head. "Why not?"

He came over to me and put a hand over my heart. "I saw where all of your power goes when it retreats. It goes to your heart."

"So?"

He looked at me with a seriousness I'd never seen in him before. "If you use it again, your heart won't be able to take it. The heat is already overloading it. If you go all-out like that again, Jo, you're going to die."

My heart skipped a beat. "W-What?"

"If you ever become enveloped in flame like that again, the fire will consume you, and you'll die, Joan. For real."

_Great. The one goddamn weakness to that insane amount of power I had was death. Could the day possibly get any worse?_

Oh but it could, considering when I got home, Zeke ate all my cookies.


	18. Plans

Chapter Seventeen:

Plans

Okay, so knowing that I had to control my powers more effectively because I could die was one way to get me to focus. But with Alec watching me all the time, it was a bit creepy. I understood that he was making my safety a priority, but I was eighteen-friggin'-years-old! An adult!

We decided not to tell Cole. He'd flip, have a cow, and then tell me I couldn't fight Reapers anymore. At least Alec let me have that luxury (if it can be categorized as such).

DARPA was increasing their hold on Empire City as the days went on. Soon, it was only the remaining First Sons and the overwhelming amount of Reapers that stood in their way. The Dust Men were all but wiped out.

Dana and I were keeping in touch. She realized that I wasn't so bad, and wanted to be a good little sister! … No, not really. She just tells me that she has to settle her debt, and then she'll kill me. She'd make my daddy proud! [Insert fake tears here.]

Oh yeah! By the way… don't friggin' trust DARPA! Ever! Under any circumstances!

Why do I say this? Oh, no reason… Cole only got arrested by DARPA for dangerous behaviour. Idiots.

So, Alec, Zeke and I were planning to get him out of one of the main DARPA strongholds just off the coast of Empire City. Boo-ya, baby!

"If we enter through here, we should be undetected!" Zeke announced, pointing to a hole in the structure.

"But Alec can just get us inside by making us merge with shadows…" I pointed out. "We could walk through the front door, and no one'd be the wiser."

Zeke looked defeated. "Whatever. I'm just trying to get my friend away from DARPA, okay?"

I nodded. "I get that, but what is it that you can do that'll help us out?"

"I got a gun—."

I held up a hand. "Who was the one who complained that this was a stealth mission? Why are we bringing guns?"

"W-Well… because…!"

I shook my head. "No guns! That means you too, Alec!"

"But it's a silenced sniper rifle!" Alec said, a whine in his voice.

"No. Guns."

Alec huffed. "You're just jealous that you don't have one."

I didn't answer out loud, but in my head. _Of _course_ I'm friggin' jealous! I've been careful not to kill myself with my own powers, and it woulda been nice to have a gun when fighting them instead of getting that friggin' tar in my eyes and having to listen to super-bitch again!_

I sighed. "It doesn't matter." Liar. "Fine, we'll take guns. And we'll use Zeke's entry point, but Alec will use the shadows to hide us for added security. There'll obviously be cameras surrounding the area that Cole's being kept, so if we turn him invisible as well we'll be discovered. On the other hand, if we just appear, then we'll still be discovered." I looked to Alec. "Do you have any other powers besides illusions and such?"

"I can combine powers together to make a hell of a bomb." Alec shrugged. "The powers stick together using my shadows. I can also drag my enemies into the shadows, never to be seen again."

"And you haven't used that yet, _why_?" I snapped. "Geezus, that woulda been helpful against the Reapers!"

"Well, I didn't think of it until now."

"No shit, Sherlock!" I pointed at the map. "This facility is going to be crawling with DARPA agents, so we'll have to be careful. They hate Conduits almost as much as I hate Sasha."

"And that's a _lotta_ hate," Zeke said. "Don't you guys worry, either! I got an escape plan that's gonna blow your minds!"

I arched an eyebrow. "Whatcha got?"

"I got a guy who owes me for some batteries I made him waiting on the pier not far from the facility. His boat's gotta stealth unit that can get us inside, and out." Zeke grinned and pushed his sunglasses further up his nose. "Then he'll take us to a hideout in the Historic District."

"You trust this guy?" I asked.

Zeke nodded. "He owes me, and he knows that if he doesn't repay his debt, I'm gonna set Cole on 'em." Zeke leaned in. "By the way, he doesn't know that we're rescuing Cole, so we'd best keep that to ourselves, okay?"

I shook my head. "Dammit, Zeke…" I sighed. "Are we ready to head out?"

Alec nodded. "Full ammo."

"And I got a silencer for my gun!" Zeke announced proudly.

I smiled. "Then let's get that stupid light-bulb outta DARPA!"


	19. Within

Chapter Eighteen:

Within

The boat was excruciatingly slow. I had to hold myself back from flying there myself, so instead I paced endlessly on the tiny fishing barge. Which brings up the question; _why does a fishing barge have a stealth unit?_

Zeke never told me, and the guy who owned it, named Jonas, just smiled creepily when I asked. I avoided him for the rest of the trip, fearing for my innocence.

Alec leaned on the railing, and I eventually joined him. We watched Empire City slowly get smaller from view in silence. We were both wondering if this was the best idea we could come up with.

_Geezus, what happened to Moya saying we'd be in DARPA's favour? I wonder if she's working with the FBI as well…_

"So, I was thinking…" Alec started.

I smirked. "I thought I smelt something burning."

Just like Alec, he grinned at me. "Well, that smell wasn't as bad as when I smelt your cooking."

"Hey!" I hit him upside the head. "My cooking is amazing! Don't diss it, or I'll toss you off the boat!"

Alec grinned again, but it soon faded. "I was thinking about the fact that you're Kessler's daughter."

"What's there to think about?"

"Kessler had two daughters before you, so you should've had sisters." Alec rubbed his chin, where a neat stubble was forming on his pale face. "But the fact that Trish, Kessler's wife, is dead in both timelines, that means that no matter what happens, if Cole defeats the Beast or not, if you die then you'll never have existed in the first place."

"Dude, you're hurting my head." I smiled nonetheless. "I figured that out a while ago. It doesn't matter to me; I just want Cole to defeat the Beast so Empire City can get on with their lives."

Alec nodded. "I guess…" He turned to look at me, as if confused. "But… This means you're content with being nearly non-existent?"

I shrugged. "Like I said, it doesn't matter. It's not like I wanna suddenly live life just because I've lived in a cage my entire life. Beating the shit out of Reapers is all I know, and I admit that I'm too chicken-shit to find other things to do."

"You, chicken-shit?" Alec laughed, but quieted down as he realized we were nearing the DARPA base. "Joan, you have more guts than anyone I've ever known!"

I grinned. "Sure, sure. Keep the sarcasm to yourself until we get Cole's butt outta the hot water he's gotten himself into."

Alec nodded. "Yeah, okay…"

We jumped into the pipe that poured out the sewage of the DARPA base into the water. I held my breath until my face was purple, but eventually I had to breathe and, well… it smelt like shit. Get the pun?

I led the way with a flashlight. I woulda turned on my fire and used my arm as a torch, but I didn't want to take any chances with setting the sewage on fire and stinking everyone to death.

After a few minutes, we reached a ladder. We all stared at it for a bit, but then I looked to the guys and they gestured as gentlemanly as they could. "

"Ladies first!" Zeke said.

I rolled my eyes. "Cowards."

I climbed the ladder, handing the flashlight to Alec, who came after me. I pushed the grate open slightly and peered out. We were all alone. Quickly, I moved the grate to the side and climbed out, then helped Alec and Zeke get out. I replaced the grate and led them down a hallway, the DARPA map still fresh in my mind.

"Zeke, head to the security room like we planned. Knock out the guards, but don't kill 'em." I pointed to where he should go, and he nodded. "Monitor our progress. Let us know when the best time to get Cole out will be."

Again, he nodded. "I got this, Jo-Jo."

I shot him a death-glare, but he was already sneaking in the direction I'd gestured. I did kick Alec in the shins, who was snickering and on the verge of breaking out into full-fledged laughter.

We finally got a call from Zeke. _"Hey guys! The security room's ours!"_

"Great." I nodded to Alec, who utilized the shadows and hid us. "We're ready."

_"Cole's cell is above you about three floors. Guards are patrolling all hallways in groups of two, and there're eight guards watching Cole."_ I heard typing on the other end. _"Cole's in a special cage that stops him from using his powers. I can shut it off, but it's obvious to the guards if I do. When you beat them guards up, I'll shut it off."_

"Got it."

Alec and I moved down the hallways slowly, avoiding the guards by shimmying against the walls. When we were at the stairwell of the first floor, I finally noticed that Alec was humming the theme from _"Get Smart"._

"You're so _immature_!" I hissed.

I saw him shrug, but he stopped. When in the shadows, we could see each other's outlines, so we knew where each other was. Everyone else we could see perfectly fine, but they couldn't see us. Unfortunately, they could touch us, and vice-versa. Believe me, if we could've walked through walls, we would've.

We were sneaking down to the other end of the hall on the second floor when several guards popped out of the rooms lining the hall. Alec and I froze as they engaged in a conversation, and were walking right towards us! They were taking up the entire width of the hall, so we couldn't get past, and the stairwell wasn't an option, since it was small and only went down.

Alec put a hand over my mouth, wrapped an arm over my shoulders and concentrated. We sunk through the shadows, and the guards passed us unnoticed. Alec brought us back up through the shadow and released me.

Lemme re-phrase what I'd said earlier: We can, indeed, go through walls, but only sink into shadows and appear in the same place. _Dammit, Alec! Why can't you friggin' tell us what all your friggin' powers are before I _kill_ you, dammit!_

Instead of me kicking his ass, we continued to the next stairwell.

"_Where're you guys?"_ Zeke asked as he called again.

"Just climbing the stairs to the third floor," I answered in a whisper. "Almost there."

"_Better hurry!"_ Zeke warned. _"There's a contingent of DARPA agents heading there from the fourth floor! They've stopped, but it's only for a second! Get Cole outta there!"_

I nodded, even though I knew Zeke couldn't see. "Okay!"

We sped up the stairs as quietly as we could. Upon opening the door, we accidentally smacked it into a DARPA guard.

_Shit!_ The guard raised his gun to exactly where we were standing, but I didn't give him the chance. I leapt out of the shadows and caught his face in my hand, setting it on fire as soon as I touched. He screamed and went down, but our cover was blown.

"Get those guards!" I told Alec. I didn't see where he was, but I could hear his footsteps run past me as I tossed fireballs at the DARPA guards.

I rolled to the side behind some cover as they fired at me. When I could, I peeked over and tried to burn them, but they were out of my range. This wouldn't be a problem if I could use more of my powers! I leaped over my cover and brought out my nodachi, slicing the closest guy I could get to. I dodged and tried my best to get out of the way of bullets, but at least three had hit me in the gut.

I got back into cover and checked my wounds. I could see little silver streams mixed with my blood. Dammit! Quicksilver! I grasped my wound with one hand, then took off my windbreaker and tore off some strips of the long-sleeved shirt I was wearing (which had just become a T-shirt). I put everything back on, but didn't do up my windbreaker. It was already obvious I was wounded.

I jumped out of the cover, my nodachi in its scabbard, and fired quickly from my fingertips. Ten tiny, but accurate blasts of fire hit ten stupid DARPA agents, and they went down like a tree stuck by lightning.

"Zeke!" I called, sure he could hear me from the security room. "Deactivate Cole's cage and meet us in the square!"

I saw how Cole's cage suddenly powered-up, lighting the room. I melted the door and burst inside, seeing Cole leaning up against the far wall.

"Cole!" I quickly rushed to him, despite how much my wound was killing me (literally). "Hey, buddy! C'mon, look at me!"

Cole looked up groggily, but it seemed to me like he was getting his energy back. "Joan…?"

"Yo, Cole." I flashed him a smile. "Let's get you outta here!"

I helped him to his feet and let him lean on me. "Joan, what're you doing here?"

"Rescuing you, dumbass." I quickly led him out of the cage. Alec had taken care of the rest of the guards and left an explosive "surprise" for the DARPA agents coming from the fourth floor. "Let's move! We don't have much time!"

Alec helped me out with Cole, but by the time we were on the second floor Cole had recharged. We started running, but I had to slow down when my gut really started bleeding.

_This isn't good…_ I thought as my face contorted in pain. _This _really_ isn't good…_


	20. Sacrifice

Chapter Nineteen:

Sacrifice

Cole looked back out of the corner of his eye and saw me slowing down. "Hey, Joan! You okay?" he called back.

I nodded. "I'm fine! Keep moving!"

By now, he knew I was too stubborn to admit that I was hurting and kinda needed help. He fell back and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Gimme a sec…" he focused his healing electricity into me, but it being electricity and the bullets inside me being metal, I only got shocked. No healing there.

"We'll… We'll just get 'em out when we get back," I said. "Now keep moving before I _fry_ your ass and _make_ you."

If this wasn't a serious situation, I knew Cole would've smiled. "Okay. let's get moving."

It took us about five minutes to reach the square. Zeke was crouched by some barrels and waved us over.

"Hey, brother! You okay?" he asked Cole.

Cole nodded. "Fine. We need to get outta here, or else the alarm's—."

He spoke too soon. The alarms suddenly came on, blaring in our ears as someone on a megaphone yelled, _"MacGrath has escaped! There are Conduits inside! Capture them!"_ over and over again.

Red lasers were trained on us in seconds. I narrowed my eyes and saw the grate we'd come from not too far from us, but it was in the centre of the square. Someone'd need to distract DARPA while everyone else was escaping…

"Guys! Head for the grate! I'll cover you!" I said, activating the fire on my arms.

Alec and Cole looked at me in surprise. "But Joan—!" Alec tried to say something.

But I'd cut him off. "Get going! I know what I'm doing!" As if unconvinced, everyone looked at me stupidly. "I'm serious! Go! I'll be fine!"

Cole looked at the grate, and then to me. Somebody was counting down the time for when the DARPA agents would shoot us. They were at thirty seconds.

"Are you sure?" he asked me.

"Positive," I lied. I knew they wouldn't stop going after Cole, Alec, Zeke or me unless they were all dead, and that's exactly what I was expecting. Twenty seconds.

Cole squeezed my shoulder. "You'd better come back, or I'll kick your ass, got it?"

"Yeah."

He gave me one final squeeze before he ran for the grate and lifted it before anyone knew what was happening. I shot at the DARPA agents, and their short attention spans switched from the fleeing Cole, Alec and Zeke to me.

Alec was the last to climb down. As I was firing at the DARPA agents, we both looked at each other and nodded in understanding. He knew.

I upped my flames. "Come and get me, you gutless bastards!"

Agents were coming from all directions at me, while others, who were perched in towers above me, fired endlessly. Quicksilver was in every bullet, and I felt every one. I was hit almost everywhere imaginable, but I continued to stand and fight, miraculously.

When I heard the boat engine, I smiled. _Sorry, Cole. Sorry, Zeke. Sorry, Alec. Maybe another time, guys._

I maxed out my flames until they covered my entire body. My heart was beating abnormally fast, as if it was going to burst, but I knew it wouldn't just be my heart.

A bullet hit me in the right shoulder. I fell to my knees, smiling, though the DARPA agents couldn't see. They ceased fire and closed in on me, one even putting a gun to my head.

I snickered and closed my eyes. _**"I'm sorry, but going out with a bang isn't exactly the way I wanna go."**_ I looked up at the DARPA agent, my smile plastered to my face. _**"I prefer a boom."**_

I felt the energy inside me finally hit its max, and as I breathed out, I did, in fact, go boom.


	21. Epilogue

Chapter Twenty:

Epilogue

Cole MacGrath stood in front of the make-shift graveyard that the people of Empire City had built for the ones they'd lost. On one grave was a picture of his late girlfriend, Trish. He'd buried her himself. On a grave beside Trish's was a wreath of flowers that the people of Empire City had hung. It belonged to Joan MacGrath, though there was no body.

He remembered when they'd both died. Trish was being used in the sick game Kessler had made up, and Cole hadn't been fast enough to save both her, and the six doctors on the other building. Of the two choices, Cole had ultimately put the people of Empire City before himself, and let Trish fall to her death.

And Joan… Well, when they were on the boat, Cole, Zeke, and Alec watching the DARPA base anxiously, it had simply been engulfed in an incredible explosion of fire. Alec stopped looking as soon as he saw it happen, and headed inside the barge. Zeke and Cole had stared without any emotion, all too jumbled up to make sense of only one.

And when they'd gotten back to the city, to the hideout in the Historic District, Cole immediately set to work to make a memorial for his friend, right beside Trish. The people of Empire city knew of Joan, the crazy, and violent, yet caring fire Conduit who had saved them when Cole was on the other side of Empire City.

They were the ones, along with Cole, who stood in front of her memorial. Also on her memorial, almost hidden by the flowers of the wreath, was a picture of Alec, Zeke, Cole and Joan. Cole had a hand on her head, smiling at the camera. Zeke was leaning on Cole, looking as care-free as usual. Alec was smiling, but had his arms crossed. Joan was yelling angrily at Cole, one of her fists raised and getting ready to punch him.

People soon began to leave. They shuffled away quietly, casting some looks back at Cole and the memorial, and respectfully left him alone. It became evening too soon, it seemed. Cole could almost imagine Joan getting ticked at him for staying out so long, thinking about her.

_Why do you think I'd stayed behind?_ he could hear her say. _Get on with your stupid life, you stupid light-bulb! Or I'll kick your ass!_

Cole snorted quietly. _Yeah, she'd say that. And she'd carry out her threat, but she wasn't here anymore. Just like Trish._

Sighing, Cole finally left the memorial and the grave, looking back only once before he walked back to Zeke's place in the Neon.

"She was hope to them," he remembered Alec saying, just before he left. "She was hope in their eyes."

Cole couldn't help but agree.

Dr. Sebastian Wolfe wrote quietly in his notes outside near the swamp. The Militia was gaining power, but they didn't have enough support to effectively find him. Until then, he was safe to come and write out by the swamp as he pleased.

Something caught his eye. Dr. Wolfe looked at the water and saw a piece of debris float by, a clear name on the metal.

"DARPA," he muttered. "I wonder what it's doing out here…?"

He shut his book and put it in his coat, then pushed his glasses further up his nose. Wolfe almost left then and there, but again, something caught his eye. Close to shore, a body was floating. Then another, and another. Each were dressed in the same uniform; a blue DARPA jacket, with a bullet vest underneath. Most of the corpses looked as if they'd been burnt.

Lucy Kuo joined him on the bank, watching the bodies. "These've been coming in for a few days now," she said, startling the old man. "Whether it be debris or bodies, they've been coming steadily to New Marias."

Wolfe looked from Lucy to the water. "I wonder what's happened…"

Lucy shrugged, unable to provide an answer.

A piece of debris floated to the shore, not twenty metres from where the two were standing. They hadn't noticed it at first, until they realized that someone was crawling off of it.

Lucy was the first to reach the person, Wolfe following closely. They helped them to crawl onto the shore as they vomited out water from their lungs and coughed violently.

When they seemed to be done, Lucy crouched and turned them onto their back. And there now lay a girl in her late teens, with fiery red hair and pale skin.

"What happened?" Lucy asked, her tone worried.

The girl opened her silver-grey eyes, which were strangely bright. She looked at Lucy and Wolfe curiously, but didn't say a word.

"We should get her to my lab!" Wolfe said. "Before she dies of hypothermia, starvation, dehydration, or something else!"

Lucy nodded and helped the girl to he feet. Wolfe and Lucy helped the girl to walk, but were practically carrying her, due to how weak she was.

_I have a feeling that we've gotten ourselves into something big,_ Wolfe thought. He looked to Lucy and she nodded, indicating that she was thinking the same. _I just hope it isn't something bad._

_**The End…**_

_**For Now**_


End file.
